World No 2 Murray, who is seeded to meet defending champion Djokovic in a rematch of last year’s final, said: “I think for anyone who is innocent, whose name gets talked about with that stuff, then you for sure feel sorry for them if they have done nothing wrong. Especially during an event like this, it’s very distracting.

No alarms: Djokovic is yet to drop a set in the Australian Open (Image: Reuters/Jason Reed)

“But you also want to be competing in a clean sport as well. So sometimes asking questions, and the players being open about it and responding to it, and the people who are high up in the ATP and the ITF and TIU talking also about it, is also a good thing.

“If it’s never discussed and nobody ever hears a thing about it, I don’t think that good either. Maybe some people see it’s negative for the sport in some ways. I think some positives can come from it as well, providing the appropriate people act in the right way and are proactive with whatever they are doing moving forward.”

The BuzzFeed News and BBC investigation claimed 16 unnamed players were regularly involved with matches with suspect betting patterns. A further statistical analysis of the data done by one website has claimed to identify 15 of them, including Hewitt.

Coasting: Andy Murray dropped just five games during his second round win (Image: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The former world No 1, who retired after losing in the second round of the Australian Open to David Ferrer on Monday, said: “I think it’s a joke to deal with it. Obviously, yeah, there’s no possible way. I know my name’s now been thrown into it. I don’t think anyone here would think that I’ve done anything corruption or match fixing. It’s just absurd.

“For anyone that tries to go any further with it, then good luck. Take me on with it. Yeah, it’s disappointing. I think throwing my name out there with it makes the whole thing an absolute farce.”

The Scot is guaranteed to meet another home player in the fourth round but next up is No 32 seed Joao Sousa, who Murray has beaten in all six of their previous meetings. But the Portuguese No 1 warned he is in the form of his life after spending the off-season training with Rafa Nadal. “I think we did great work,” he said.

NEIL McLEMAN'S MELBOURNE DIARY — DAY 4

As Aussie hero Lleyton Hewitt said goodbye to the Australian Open, and his singles career, the greatest recognition came from his pal Andy Murray.

“I actually named one of my dogs after him because he’s someone that I loved growing up - he was an idol for me,” said the Scot.

* Jamie Murray and Jonathan Marray share the distinction of both being Wimbledon doubles champions.

The Scot and the Sheffield star are also sharing a flat in Melbourne — a tad awkward when they were drawn to face each other in the first round of the men’s doubles.

After he and Bruno Soares beat Marray and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi 6-3 6-4, Murray said: “We didn’t actually really talk about it before the match to be honest, it was just kind of the white elephant in the room. Now he might have trashed his room by the time I get back – or mine.”

Marray hit back by saying: “I wouldn’t want to go anywhere near that room, to be honest with you, with the state it’s in.”

* Want to feel old? Ana Ivanovic feels like “an older stateperson of the game” at the grand old age of 28.

The 2008 finalist here - Manchester United midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger’s other half - giggled: “Yes, I do. Unfortunately, I do. It really feels I have been here a while. It is nice, because you sort of start to know yourself better, as well. That final definitely feels like a long time ago. It feels like other life.”

* Nicolas Mahut, who had his 34th birthday spoiled by his defeat to fellow Frenchman Gael Monfils, will also be remembered for playing the longest match in tennis history against John Isner at Wimbledon 2010.

In Australian time, it lasted two prime ministers.

When the epic started on Court 18, Kevin Rudd was head Down Under. By the end, 183 games later, Julia Gillard was in charge.

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* Sam Groth lost his match to Andy Murray but not his sense of humour. After twisting his ankle in the final game of his thrashing, the Aussie said with a broad smile: “It’s all right. If I hadn’t a rolled it I might’ve come back, who knows!”

“They have a saying here in Melbourne, ‘If you don’t like the weather, just wait half an hour,’” she said.

* Japan’s Naomi Osaka is a rising star in a homeland – but conducts her post-match interviews in English.

The 18-year-old qualifier, who is through to the third round in her first Grand Slam, was born in Osaka but her family moved to Florida when she was young and she does not feel confident speaking to the media in her mother tongue.